Power quality specialist EMC Standards is a new company that has been set up in Staffordshire to educate design engineers, electrical engineers, plant managers and other electrical practitioners about electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues. Set up by expert electrical engineers, the company aims to refresh the way people learn about EMC issues, moving away from the old ‘bricks and mortar’ methods to a new service that reaches a wider audience.
EMC Standards will share this information through its website, which contains vast amounts of downloadable information. There are a wide range of practical guides to regulations such as the 2004/108/EC regulations, which are the basis of EMC law in the UK.
The company also offers a subscription service, where subscribers will receive regular new information and training material as soon as it is released. For those who want to learn more about EMC, EMC Standards also offers paid content and increased access to unique and valuable resources. Keith Armstrong, EMC expert at EMC Standards has also published a number of books available through the website, including The Physical Basis of EMC, a guide to electromagnetic phenomena for practising electronic engineers.
“EMC problems usually occur when equipment is not installed according to the manufacturer’s guidelines or when it does not conform to EMC regulations,” explained Keith Armstrong, EMC expert at EMC Standards. “This leads to electromagnetic and radiofrequency interference (EMI/RFI) that can raise energy costs and affect telecoms equipment as well as interfere with other equipment on the network.
“EMC is generally not taught as part of conventional engineering qualifications, so we find that many engineers and designers are not as knowledgeable about EMC as they should be. We will help designers, development staff, installers and maintenance staff to gain a better comprehension of EMC at each stage of the product cycle.
“Through our own experiences, we have developed many ways to resolve EMC problems, which can save companies large amounts of time and money. Many EMC issues can be solved using practical techniques that cannot be learnt in a classroom. Therefore, EMC Standards will educate design engineers and practitioners by using actionable information to solve real-world problems.”
For engineers who want to test their knowledge of EMC, the EMC quiz is now live on the site, where engineers can see how much they know and spot areas for improvement.